Microwave and optical wavelength communications are generally carried out by extremely high frequency nodes. A central controller is responsible for the command and control of a diffuse network of individual nodes. The networking between the central controller and the nodes is wireless, and the signals are transmitted through lasers or microwaves.
Sophisticated communications require complex and expensive hardware, including antennas, photoreceptors, solid-state lasers, and processors, all of which must be compact and efficiently arranged. One consequence of the packaging of these components is the general deterioration of the electrical signals and the loss of fidelity in the data transmission. The consequences include electrical losses and interference, inductive and capacitive parasitics, propagation delays, signal-to-signal skews, signal-to-signal coupling, decreased signal strength, and alteration in the phase relationship between the voltage and current components of a signal.
Accordingly, the present invention is an electrical communications apparatus that minimizes the signal losses and interferences while maintaining the fidelity of the data transmissions. Moreover, the present invention includes all of the sophisticated hardware referenced above, but packaged in an efficient and cost-effective assembly
The present invention includes a dielectric material defining a volume and at least one via inscribed within the dielectric material. The at least one via intersects the volume at a first planar surface, a second planar surface, or the third planar surface thereby providing a plurality of connection points on the first planar surface, the second planar surface, and the third planar surface. The via is preferably composed of a conductive material. In one embodiment, the first planar surface, the second planar surface, and the third planar surface intersect along a first line, a second line, and a third line, and the first line, the second line, and the third line are mutually perpendicular. This configuration generally defines a cubic volume.
The dielectric material, or substrate, has at least one electrical device attached thereto. The electrical device is preferably of the sort needed to conduct high frequency communications, such as an antenna. The electrical device is attached to the substrate at the connection points described by the intersection of the vias and one of the planar surfaces. The electrical device may be attached to the substrate in numerous ways, including solder, flipped chip ball bonds, wire bonds, or a gold stud assembly. In particular, the gold stud assembly is utilized to attach an antenna to the substrate, thereby providing a predetermined air gap therebetween.